Obradovich: Iowans must defend caucuses now, not later

Mar. 20, 2013

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Defending the Iowa caucuses is a never-ending job for political leaders in the state. That task just got tougher.

The Growth & Opportunity Project report released this week by the Republican National Committee doesn’t directly challenge Iowa or the other states with traditions of early contests. It leaves in place the early status for Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. But the report takes a direct shot at the value of caucuses to the national party. It says the RNC should discourage caucuses and conventions for the purpose of allocating delegates.

“Our party needs to grow its membership, and primaries seem to be a more effective way to do so,” the report states.

The RNC report is silent on whether it would make an exception for Iowa. Many efforts to replace the current patchwork of primaries and caucuses have failed over the years, and there seems to be no consensus on wholesale changes for 2016. The greater concern is the message it sends about caucuses.

Iowa Republicans and Democrats have long defended the caucuses as a tried-and-true way to build their parties. The Iowa GOP had a record turnout for its caucuses in 2012, in part because of a large and competitive field of candidates. People who participate in the caucuses are far more likely to get involved in the party, volunteer for a candidate or donate money than the average person who commits to nothing more than casting a ballot on primary day.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, says he hopes the day never comes when regional primaries replace caucuses. “You know what happens when you have regional primaries?” he asked. “Only people with money or the ability to get money are going to be presidential candidates,” he said.

The dig against caucuses comes on top of a year in which the performance of caucuses around the country ranged from merely embarrassing to potentially fraudulent. Iowa, which fumbled the counting and reporting of results, already faced a difficult job of rehabbing the image of caucuses. This report didn’t help.

“The very best thing that Iowa can do to protect the caucuses on the Republican side is to fix them,” Bill Schickel said. He’s the former state party co-chairman who led a task force last year on ways to strengthen the caucus process.

The 17-member GOP panel approved a report last June with proposals for quicker certification of caucus results and upgrades in technology for reporting, improved training for volunteers and better control of paper ballots on caucus night, among other ideas.

The task force recommendations need the approval of the Iowa Republican Party state central committee. Eight months later, that hasn’t happened. Party co-chairman David Fischer says the recommendations have been assigned to a subcommittee, but none of them have come up for a vote. Republican National Committeewoman Tamara Scott said the party is also holding its own listening posts around the state.

Fischer said there will be a new state central committee elected before the caucuses that will need some leeway to make decisions, but he doesn’t rule out taking some action sooner.

There are good reasons not to wait. The committee needs to start now on showing a commitment to improving the caucuses. Potential presidential candidates are already coming here in April and May. That’s a good sign for the continuing importance of Iowa, but also likely to bring continued questions from the national media about the role of the caucuses.

The Republican National Committee could start considering recommendations from its report at its spring meeting next month. It’s not too soon for Iowa Republicans to show their commitment to improving the caucuses. If nothing else, this week’s report shows Iowans need to work even harder to convey the reasons why caucuses are valuable to the party, its candidates and the country.